From Facade

Press Release Announcing FACADE Project

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT Libraries
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 14S-318
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2007
Contact: Heather Denny
Communications Officer
hdenny@mit.edu
617.253.5686

PHOTO, IMAGES AVAILABLE

See Also: Press release as pages 8-9 of MIT Libraries newsletter Bibliotech (with two photographs)

Libraries FACADE project seeks to "future-proof" digital architectural files

Imagine losing the drawings for the Louvre, the Vatican, or the Taj Mahal. For centuries archivists have had to worry about the hazards of time, water and pests that threaten paper documents. Today's Computer-Aided Design (CAD) files face a new kind of preservation challenge—digital obsolescence.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) has revolutionized the architectural industry, giving architects the ability to create astounding 3-dimensional models. However these models exist only in proprietary digital formats that are ever-changing and short-lived, making them difficult to preserve and manage over time. While prints on paper are still made, the visualization afforded by 3-D models has become increasingly critical to understanding built objects in the modern world. Without a structure for preserving digital CAD files, the full history of future architectural masterpieces is in danger of being lost forever.

A $724,415 grant from The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has been awarded to the MIT Libraries to address this critical cultural challenge. Using the designs of renowned architect Frank Gehry and his work on MIT’s Stata Center as a test bed, MIT’s FACADE (Future-Proofing Architectural Computer-Aided Design) project will study CAD architectural documents and create preservation strategies to stem their potential loss.

"My own projects over the last decade (including the Stata Center) have made extensive use of three-dimensional modeling in CATIA® (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application), but the long term preservation of digital models is not effectively supported by commercially available software products. Unless effective tools, standards and strategies quickly become available, a vast amount of historically important documentation will simply vanish forever," Frank Gehry said.

Over the next two years the MIT Libraries' Digital Libraries Research Group will work with MIT’s Department of Architecture to research the primary software products (such as CATIA®, AutoCAD® and Microstation®) that produce architectural CAD models. With the guidance of former dean of the School of Architecture and Planning Bill Mitchell, the researchers will examine the role of CAD files in the life-cycle of modern architecture and building construction—including the entire "digital and paper trail" from early designs and sketches to internal communications regarding onsite revisions, all of which are important to architectural historians and scholars—and seek strategies for long-term preservation of this critical material. They will also investigate the optimal use of digital preservation archives, such as the DSpace digital repository system, to provide open-source solutions to this problem.

The DSpace digital repository, created in 2002 by the MIT Libraries and Hewlett-Packard was designed to capture, preserve, and share MIT’s intellectual output with the world. Its open-source software platform has been adopted by hundreds of institutions around the globe. Results from the FACADE project will be shared with these institutions and others facing similar digital preservation challenges.

The MIT Libraries are actively engaged in tackling the challenges of the 21st century library. The FACADE project is one of several research initiatives of the Libraries’ Digital Library Research Group (DLRG). The group conducts research in technology and other aspects of digital libraries, furthering library, scholarly, and educational initiatives. Their work includes research on applications of the semantic web, the data grid to digital libraries and data curation. To learn more about MIT Libraries’ research initiatives see: http://libraries.mit.edu/dlrg/.

Funding for the FACADE project was provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services—the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 15,000 museums. Through its grant making, research and publications, the Institute empowers museums and libraries nationwide to provide leadership and services to enhance learning in families and communities, sustain cultural heritage, build twenty-first-century skills, and increase civic participation. To learn more about the Institute, visit: http://www.imls.gov.

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See also the Minutes to the Advisory Board Meeting (Sept. 2007)